Fred, Smith, and myself followed the procession, and consigned the body to the earth, without a word being spoken. It was a solemn moment, and as I heard the dirt fall upon the corpse, my thoughts wandered to the proud lady, and the stern father through whose instrumentality the lover and son became a leader of bandits, and died a violent death, while setting at defiance the laws of his country.
Fred and myself lingered behind, and suffered the rest of the party to reach the hut in advance of us; and while we sauntered leisurely along, I confided to him the confession of Gulpin, and asked his opinion regarding the means to be employed to discover the dust.
"I think the man was honest," Fred said, after a pause, "when he made the confession; in fact, the gang must have gold dust buried somewhere, for it is notorious that two escorts have been plundered by bushrangers within three months. The robbers have not been able to go into town to squander their money; they buy nothing, because they take every thing by force, and therefore it is very evident to me that the treasure which they have stolen must be in the ground; but the question is, to find the spot."
I repeated the last words the robber had uttered,—
"Ten paces in a south—"
"He may have meant south-east, south-west, or even south; there are a dozen points of the compass governed by south, and the only way we can solve the mystery is to visit the spot, and trust to our tact in finding earth recently disturbed. If there is money within the radius of ten paces from that hut, we'll find it, unless some one gets there before us."
"And Smith," I asked, "we shall want his services."
"Of course, and a better man we could not have to accompany us. His team will not only carry all the tools that we shall need to work with, but provisions sufficient to last us a month, if we think it will pay to spend that length of time in the search. We must have Smith as a companion, by all means."
"Let us promise him a share, if successful, and if we fail, nothing," I said; "he is too stout a friend to be offended, and his knowledge of the country can be turned to a profitable account."
"We must hurry Murden," Fred remarked, "and get him to use more expedition, or we shall not reach the city for a week. Time is precious to us, until we find the buried treasure."